1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surgical instruments, and particularly to a medical material delivery device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical material can be delivered to subjects in numerous ways, such as application on the surfaces of a subject's skin, oral ingestion, or administration to the subject through a needle or catheter, for example. These numerous methods can have advantages and disadvantages; therefore medical practice continues to seek new methods of material delivery to compliment the numerous other methods of material delivery.
In one particular area of medical practice, procedures involving the insertion of medical instruments into blood vessels or tissues or other bodily parts are common procedures in the medical field today. Even though they are common, closing of the openings caused by these procedures can be problematic. A current approach for sealing a puncture caused by a medical procedure as, for example, a procedure involving the puncturing of a blood vessel to perform an angiographic procedure, is to seal the puncture by using manual pressure. In this approach, manual pressure is applied directly to the skin above the access puncture for a time period until the natural clotting process of the body seals the puncture. A drawback of this approach is that it can be uncomfortable for the patient while the pressure is applied and it can be time consuming, including taking up the time of the medical staff assisting the patient.
Another approach to seal a puncture employs the use of absorbable intra-vessel anchors in conjunction with extra-vessel collagen sponges. Under this approach, the anchor and collagen sponge are held together by a self-tightening suture loop and slip knot, which, when tightened, sandwiches the puncture hole between the anchor and the collagen sponge. Although these devices can be effective in sealing punctures, in certain situations, for example punctures in the femoral artery, these devices may not work successfully. Other factors as can prohibit using these devices include the presence of peripheral vascular disease, a poor needle stick location by either having too high of a puncture or too low of a puncture, or relatively smaller blood vessel sizes which can interfere with anchor placement and prevent proper seating of the anchor against the blood vessel wall.
In an effort to overcome some of these problems, another device for sealing a puncture is a plug that is deposited outside the blood vessel at the puncture site with no component inside the blood vessel. This approach generally requires a consistent placement of the plug near the blood vessel wall. This consistent placement can be problematic, for example, when trying to seal a punctured artery pressure exerted on the plug as the blood pressure generated by the beating heart can cause the plug to move away from the puncture site in the arterial wall. This can result in a hematoma or other complications at the puncture site. Further, the plug may not seal the puncture site sufficiently enough to prevent leakage from the blood vessel.
Therefore, it is desirable for a device that can deliver a medical material for medical procedures to be able to do so in an easy, quick, less painful and secure manner.
Thus, a medical material delivery device addressing the aforementioned problems, that can include a method of delivery complimenting other methods of delivery, is desired.